King's College Cambridge 2008 #10 What Sweeter Music John Rutter

[mogetossj4]

boooooring

[viewfromwilmington]

This video is a nice companion to the video of Rutter's Nativity Carol. Quiet, yet very moving.

[Drycewalker]

Gorgeous

[lady000kaka]

Cambridge is my dream.

[moondiamondcat]

Merry Christmas all! (I was a bit disappointed they didn't do this one for Carols from King's tonight.) And yes, John Rutter for knighthood, definitely!

[allonespirit1]

I do not know this carol but it is very beautiful and helps one to discover the peace within. Love the harmonies.

[brucec3151]

Rutter's music is heavenly but this is one of the most inspiring piece ever!

[MrAleks1972]

I sang this as part of a schools and colleges choir back in 1988 or 1989 - one of my very favourite carols

[Poopaloo55]

Oh my...just beautiful.

[11tvbuff]

This song is just as peaceful as heaven! That's why I love it!

[texasrose455km]

My favorite Rutter composition! too gorgeous for words!

[alexanderje1]

Mrs. HG I feel exactly the same way!!

[taiblademaster]

i love this song, thank you for posing it!!!!

[SherriSLC]

Thank you for posting this! We just got back from Cambridge where we went to evensong at the chapel, and I wanted to hear some of the music again.

[888ivandf]

so beautiful...

[TinoMexineoMtz]

Merry Christmas in October! =D

[7927jackpark]

@timothyJ1966 ...but I didn't write Her Majesty personally...I just dashed off my note and addressed it to the Palace...it was just dumb luck it reached the Lady of the House. Try to get to Cambridge on a Sunday...Sunday choir concerts, called Evensong, begin around 3 or 4 in the afternoon...not to be missed.

[Zozo98ification]

chills(:

[flicfan416]

...too bad Cambridge couldn't get better treble singers...

[7927jackpark]

As I informed the folks at Buckingham Palace to consider John R for knighthood, "from Sydney to Toronto to Johannesburg to Edinburgh and to London itself, the music of John Rutter is enjoyed my more people today than that of any other British composer. In times of great trevail, I seek out his music for solace." The Queen read my letter, the Palace staffer told me. How about that?

[spiritdei]

@7927jackpark Very impressive!

[timothyj1966]

@7927jackpark most definitely he deserves it... I am so glad you wrote to her.., what a great idea. I am from Canada and have love his compositions and arrangements over the years... they are stunningly beautiful.

Visiting England next June for my first time - can't wait ... would love to visit Cambridge if time allows.. maybe one Christmas Eve I will fly over and que in line to catch this service.... one can dream.... cheers

[bobbbxxx]

@7927jackpark

Well done, and I hope he gets knighted! If so, he will owe you a drink! :)

[CushionOfWealth]

@7927jackpark

He could get Fred's old one.

If he'd want it.

[hhhhh6565]

@7927jackpark Nice one! Except i hope you didn't misspell 'travail' in the letter...

[JTROCKAA12]

orgasmic. just hard to play since it's in A flat

[JTROCKAA12]

@JTROCKAA12 sorry. it's in G flat

[Menacesun]

Haha, Joe, you were so cute back then...

[flyingfisbeefilms]

That was a wonderful rendition....thankyou for posting

[MrsHillGreenlaw]

MERE WORDS cant describe the way I feel when I hear and sing this song!! I LITERALLY flow tears!!! :^) I love it with ALL of my being!!! I CAN LISTEN TO IT FOREVER! WHAT A WAY TO CELEBRATE THE BIRTH OF A KING! :^) My favorite parts are The TBB Stanza,Both of the SSAA stanzas and the VERY END!! :^)

[spiritdei]

@MrsHillGreenlaw Perhpas John Rutter is one of the most talented choral composers around today!

[TheFallenNinja]

I'm crying.. It's udescribeable beautiful! <3

[TheMegaJob]

Those little kids, have too high voices

[ethanhuntmi007]

Angelic!

[TheGiselle769]

Love this piece Rutter!

[81048107]

Absolutely sublime, thank you for uploading. I am ordering John Rutter CD from Amazon. Jim, Montana-USA

[tichobekker2]

i get to sing this on my 18th birthday with the schoolquire, it's so beautifull!!!!!

[gymnosophy]

"It was wartime when Stephen, the Hawkings’ first child, came into the world, and his mother, Isobel, had chosen an Oxford hospital for the delivery because the university town was safe from German bombing. (The German Luftwaffe agreed to spare Oxford and Cambridge if the Royal Air Force would do the same for Heidelberg and Gottingen.)"

Oxbridge cunts.

[TheMooncat3]

Thank you for uploading... I love Rutter!

[TheRobertTaggart]

KCC and JMR - contemporary christmas carolling.

[lcowles]

Rutter is hit and miss for me...but this carol has literally brought me to tears. The minute these children opened their mouths, I got goosebumps. This song is a masterwork.

[margotlorena1]

rutter has a way of cheering me up always, even if I listen to the darkest movement of his requiem, he always has that effect on me :D

[BenjaminGessel]

AWESOME.

[ivorlottandtonybroke]

Wonderful! I play this all the year round. And this is one of the best performances. Wish our choral society could do it this good.

The two dislikes are either purists or bullfrogs with no ear for music.

[nwbxvcmqlskdjfhg]

I sang this yesterday with the choir at my church and I thought we were good, but these boys sound better! They remind me of when I went to the Canterbury Cathedral last spring and heard the boys choir sing. They have such lovely voices!!!

[dravidwake]

@nwbxvcmqlskdjfhg You thought you were better than Kings College Choir? One of the top choirs in the world?

[nwbxvcmqlskdjfhg]

@dravidwake That's not what I said. I said the boys sounded better than we did. You should read the comment correctly before you try to accuse them of stuff.

[mojojojo1451]

I love this carol so much, at our school they made it into a duet, girl and boy. It wasn't as good as this though! Who organised it? They are very talented kids!

[bobandkelly]

my small family group is giving this a crack. This version is definitely the benchmark!

[stamstuff]

sounds cool! have you heard this guy Yossi Hamami?

[GideonsTrump]

Would someone pass me a Kleenex?

Absolutely heavenly and adds so much to the Christmas season.

A Christmas without Rutter presented by Kings College is unimaginable.

[dravidwake]

Wonderful. I can never grow tired of listening to this.

[katesg]

Ahh!! this song is so beautiful!! cant wait to sing it on our concert!!!

[Roosterteeth101]

Can't wait to sing this song : )

[damophan]

Beautiful.

[Boredpersons55]

I would love to one day write music this lovely

[caroline0kluver]

so beautiful, fantastic voices :) !!

[kjeanne72]

This is unbelievably beautiful! And haha half of us who commented on this are doing this for concert choir at our hs..obviously had quite an impact on us :)

[musicguy2793]

A couple of people who don't have a musical ear didn't like this piece...tis such a shame... It is such a touching piece...absoulutely gorgeous

[KcLee1990]

Absolutely beautiful! I am in a community choir and we are singing this at our Christmas concert. Love it! Beautifully done!

[rosebabes100]

beautiful

[sarahadams489]

Holy crap that was amazing. 

[xXxmlurakamixXx]

oh gosh , this is . . . its beyong stunning ! our concert choir will be singing this (: im an alto , but i still dont think i'll be able to sing as beautifully as this , but i'm a 9th grader sooo haha (: and the only freshman in the alto II section ?

[blackheart137]

This is the most gorgeous thing I've heard in a long while.

[theodorehui]

still the best version on youtube :)

[spiritdei]

@theodorehui Thanks you are too kind!

[themagicmusician94]

it's fantastic!!! i love it

[TheLuckycharm09]

We sing this song every christmas!!!!! i love this song!!!!!

[nahatsu2]

A heavenly harmony of song & music combined for the exquisit pleasure of this video presentation: thank you!

[rosebabes100]

I love this . John Rutter is a great a great musican. I love Kings College as well.

[chose85]

Je to excelentní skladba, skladby od John Rutter se mi strašně líbí nemáte někdo nějaké party od ně?

[Maultaschii]

contrabombarde, what do you mean? the chord does resolve the chord in 2:34, so it's already "done" ;-)

[64ftContraBombarde]

I love the way the chord doesn't resolve at 2:37, it kind of leaves it up to the listeners mind!

[16dutch]

John Rutter has proved himself to be one of the better composers of this time - if not the best. This song is so beautiful, pure and fragile in melody and lyrics and for me it can compete with any of the old songs really. Well sung!

[dravidwake]

@16dutch The words are not new of course. It is a setting of a poem by Robert Herrick written in the seventeenth century. "A Christmas Carol, Sung to the King

in the Presence at White-Hall" - the original music was by Henry Lawe but I don't know if it is still known...

[vastrwc]

Perhaps one of the greatest carols ever written

[chorundorgel]

@vastrwc

greatest carol: in the bleak mid- winter

what sweeter music could be the well spread in this 2 decades.

[easchit]

@vastrwc There's no "perhaps" about it. Until one greater than this is written, What Sweeter Music will stand as the greatest of all carols.

[PirateHeur]

our choir's doing this, plus full messiah, plus other things...should be interesting.

[FTWandstuff]

Splendid. Just fantastic!

[myspain82]

this sing is very beautiful. Merry Christmas from Madrid (Spain). Esta canción es realmente bonita, me gusta muchísimo. Feliz Navidad!!!!

[mexicano1409]

Very nice!!!!!!!

[AeroSpadez]

I have one question that's been bothering me all the time.

How are they set up? Are there any specifics on a tenor and bass section or are they all just mixed up?

[picardythirds]

I don't exactly know how they are set up, but what might be confusing you is the fact that there are also counter tenors singing the alto parts, while the boys sing first and second soprano.

[CDB8939]

@AeroSpadez The Choir consists of 16 Choristers, who are all Trebles and sing in 2 parts or in unison, The Choral Scholars in the rear stalls are al Undergraduate at Kings either in music or another subject, singing in the Choir is an additional activity to their academic studies. There are usually 14 of them and in each stall from the left are 2 Counter-Tenors, 2 Basses. 1 Baritone & 2 Tenors,

[sgterikericson]

What with christmas looming and all...does anyone know where I can acquire christmas carols sung by a choir of this calibur?? I feel I should add that I live in sweden, supplies are a little shy. Ca anyone send me some mp3s? Would be much appreciated!

[midkanzan]

The King's Collage Choir recordings are available on Amazon. I would also commend John Rutter's recordings.

[sgterikericson]

Marvellous, thank you!

[VlilV]

cambridge singers!

[picardythirds]

I believe there actually are some carols from Kings available on Itunes.

[jentlee1]

Wonderful. I wish I knew the words. It's in my favourites now.

[ds1868]

As noted below Stephen Cleobury did not receive a knighthood, he received a CBE (Commander of the British Empire). This is the step below the two ranks of knighthood in the Excellent Order of the British Empire. The ranks are: GBE (Knight Grand Cross), KBE (Knight Commander), - these first two ranks are knighthoods - then CBE (Commander), OBE (Officer), MBE (Member). There was a sixth rank (BEM, British Empire Medal) but this was recently abolished (all BEM holders receiving the MBE instead).

[spiritdei]

You are quite correct will correct thank you!

[MicrobeObliteratorMo]

this is got to be like the 20th time i came back to this video....it's so beautiful...

[cashews1009]

Thanks for continuing to reinforce your instructions. It really helps. I am missing the choir!! Be back on the 22nd. Barbara

[WilliamVanLawson]

Check the same song by InQuires. The 2005 performance is faster but then the ending is not cut off. One interesting thing is that the tallest treble singer in the middle of this 2008 performance is the shortest 2005singer on the left. I always think it is interesting to see the growth in the singers.

[MusicFreak6893]

wow. this is SO pretty!

[VlilV]

who is the woman at the beginning?

[iMusicPR0]

I melted at 0:12 whenever the choir sang the first syllable of "music".

What beautiful and angelic music...

[WilliamVanLawson]

Is this the official choir for John Rutter's Compositions? I thought these singers were the official group. I really like the depth and magnitude. I think they sound better than the Choir Boys. I am not knocking the younger groups. They just have one kind of pitch. The choir boys do have a good sound, but they aren't selling any CDs of either group where I live in Kentucky.

[VlilV]

the official choir is the cambridge singers

[chorundorgel]

@WilliamVanLawson

Sorry American,---please joint the world!

For the past 400 years, most of the English hymn/song were worte for boys&gents, common thing!

If it's Brits, u get boys!(churchwise) O.K.?!

[WilliamVanLawson]

Sorry if I did not make myself clear. But were there not two CD of two different trios made up of trebles that were sold under the title the Choirboys? Not the rock group.

I think it was the second CD with a new set of trebles that sang this song. Since all their voices ranged basically the same, there wasn't very much depth even though they sang perfectly. That is what I was mentioning.

[Eurofrank1]

@chorundorgel: ich finde es gut, dass du die englische Chortradition in Schütz nimmst, aber warum so agressiv? Übrigens, dein Englisch lässt noch viel zu wünschen übrig!!

[mimmorganist]

From your Italian brother 'very good'...thank to God for your beautiful music, Cambridge singers! And thank to you!

[Organmind]

Beautiful music, John Rutter is a marvelous composer, I love his music. Thanks for this!

[VivaceSubito]

Oh, wow! Now all the King's College Choir Directors have been knighted! How wonderful! I love the King's College Choir so much! I wish there was a choir like that in America. I am an American citizen, born there too, no English blood in me, but I love the King's College Choir as much as if I was English. Congratulations, SIR Stephen! Jolly good!

[MsRosiee]

yeah bt it's Cambrideg uni . Little boys don't go ad sing in Cambridge

[sirinferno]

they need high singers. they're not going to take women, so they recruit young boys for the job.

[wmccullou]

They live there. It's a city.

[MsRosiee]

I love this but i understand why thee are small boys there . x

[hoover98902]

Because it's a boys' choir.

[johnandsharon]

In answer to the question a month ago it is Stephen Cleobury.

[studentinberlin]

i can hear a boy who oversings the whole choir. he has a good voice.

[loverdover64]

I'm singing the Mozart Requiem under the direction of John Rutter this June in Carnegie Hall, NYC. I'm so excited! :)

[spiritdei]

How did your performance go? Any insights from the great man--John Rutter?

[loverdover64]

it was absolutely stunning. and he taught us so much - he's an absolute musical genius :)

[spiritdei]

I envy you, Carnegie Hall under the baton of John Rutter. May i share a tip? If you haven't done so already try to jot down a private diary of all the things you experienced on the day. It makes such good reading later and you also have a record for those who may read it later.

[lamorlayefrance]

Very nice - it warms the heart to see the singers and observe their diligence. They are serious and care little for making a show. The tender age of these young boys offers yet some hope for our sad world.

[kapariz44]

This is a very nice piece and for me the performance is excellent. Most of John Rutter's vocal settings are very good, and this is one of the best, very reflective & lyrical. Btw, who's conducting - is it Rutter himself or one of the college professors? It's hard to tell given the low lighting.

[kapariz44]

Or could it be, ah, Stephen Cleobury? Does anybody know?

[sirkous]

Yes, that is Stephen Cleobury

[spiritdei]

He was just elevated to a Knight of Realm by HM Queen Elizabeth II. Arise Sir Stephen for his services to Music.

[nominet15]

I'm sorry but this is incorrect.

Dr Cleobury was awarded a CBE.

[spiritdei]

You are correct my mistake, thank you.

[theropodia]

This bit of melody haunts me so...

[Godin3persons]

heaven in earth

[chelly281]

they did a wonderful job! i couldn't help but laugh at the little guys though!

[chorundorgel]

@chelly281

then u r not even anything close to English, shut up!!!!

[wizard9a9]

Beautiful music. Brings us all back to Christmas time :)

[umberto1953]

The Boys and Gents are singing The Stars From Heaven.When do they come to The Netherlands? ( ! ).

[rosscalverley]

Why do they still persist with trebles?! A female soprano alto line is much more preferable in this piece.

[montiolivetti]

The choral foundation of the college provides for a choir of boy choristers and adult male choral scholars, so they have no choice but to stick to this voicing. As for whether female voices (soprano or alto) is preferable, that's a matter of taste and depends on how good the choristers are. If you prefer women, go next door to Clare College. If you prefer better choristers, go down the road to St. John's College (where the choral scholars are usually better, too).

[rosscalverley]

Thanks, I'm planning on being a choral scholar.

[suseen99]

Chills, every single time.

[GoldOrganist]

Great 4 man by Harrison & Harrison Durham

[Ikje86]

Thank you so mutch for posting! It's beautiful!

[spiritdei]

You're welcome! Your comment inspired me to research John Rutter a little. He is an impressive musician.